1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reuseable containers for bulk shipping of materials such as liquids, semi-liquids, pastes, semi-solids and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bulk shipments of liquids, semi-liquids, pasty materials and the like have been made for many years. The disadvantages of the known methods of shipping such materials have been:
1. the size of the filled and empty shipping container; PA1 2. difficulty of removing the product from the container; PA1 3. loss of product or waste as a direct result of the inability to remove substantially all the material shipped from the container; PA1 4. the expense of cleaning the container to eliminate later contamination of other products upon reuse; PA1 5. the necessity of considerable amounts of manual handling causing high labor costs and the possibility of personal injury to employees; PA1 6. the expense of manufacturing specially designed containers; and PA1 7. the expense of returning the shipping container to the product manufacturer for reutilization, if return is possible. PA1 1. less product is lost by the consumer as non-recoverable waste in the bulk shipping container, thus the cost per pound of usable product is lower; PA1 2. the product does not require direct manual handling when transferred from the bulk shipping container, thus labor costs are reduced; PA1 3. the product is not contaminated by re-use of the bulk shipping container as a disposable interior liner is utilized; PA1 4. after the product is removed from the bulk shipping containers, the containers can be disassembled and stacked for return to the shipper; PA1 5. the volume of space occupied by a disassembled container represents approximately 17 percent of volume occupied by a filled container, thus more containers can be stored for reshipment in a smaller area; PA1 6. the expense of manufacturing the bulk shipping container is less than the expense normally incurred in manufacturing specially designed bulk shipping containers; and PA1 7. the expense for return of the bulk shipping container for reutilization is reduced as less volume is occupied by the disassembled container and the total weight of a return shipment of the disassembled containers is less than that of previously known bulk shipping containers.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a bulk shipping container which would overcome or, at least, substantially minimize these prior art disadvantages.